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busyness

Over the recess period, I spent loads of quality time with my family. Having decided not to travel, not physically at least, I took the time to connect with people who had something to say. I began by reactivating my Twitter account. And so my journey began…

On the second day of the new year, I came across this Tweet by @shareski:

The ‘anti-busy’ bit caught my eye. I decided to check it out. In his post “Let’s Stamp Out Busyness”, Shareski expresses his annoyance at the word ‘busy’ and how often it has been thrown around in day-to-day conversation. I instantly thought about – guess who – all of us, teachers. We are definitely a kind that has a lot on our plate, all the time, so you can imagine how it felt to read the following:

“I’m not suggesting your life isn’t full but for the most part it’s the life you’ve chosen. You can argue that sometimes it’s not, but you decided to have kids, you choose to work where you work, and you choose to be a good person and help others out.” Dean Shareski

Shareski then argues that many of the people who constantly declare their busyness may actually come across as wanting to bring others down, as if not being busy all the time meant there’s something wrong with you, or you’re clearly not doing your job right, or even you’re just plain lazy.

I was blown away by Shareski’s honesty in this post. I wanted to read more on the subject, so I decided to check out his other suggestion – a great article by Tyler Wardis. In it, Wardis eloquently explains why busy isn’t respectable anymore, candidly admitting how being busy actually used to make him feel important, valuable, needed. I was compelled to read on.

According to Wardis, there has recently been what he calls “a widespread frustration with the perpetual busyness of life,” which has been raising more awareness of, as well as questions about the issue of ‘busyness’. He ventures into giving some answers himself, which for me turned his article into a must-read, but not before sharing a very interesting experience carried out by a friend of his, and finishing by proposing a challenge.

In the spirit of new beginnings, I invite you to read what these guys have to say about the culture of ‘busyness’. I will surely take on the challenge proposed by Tyler Wardis.